United Utilities increased its annual bills at the end of 2003

At a public meeting on Thursday United Utilities (UU) bosses will be asked about what it is doing to help customers.

Organised by the watchdog, WaterVoice North West, the meeting in Manchester will be told customer debt is a "significant and growing problem".

UU is one of two water companies who will increase its bills this year.

Members of the public are being urged to go to the meeting to have their say about water and sewerage issues.

Maurice Terry, who chairs WaterVoice North West, said: "Levels of outstanding bill payments, the amount of revenue written off, the number of customers in debt and expenditure on debt collection have continued to rise since 1998-99."

'Face problems'

After being given the go-ahead by water industry regulator Ofwat, UU is set to increase customers' bills by 11.4% instead of the seven per cent originally permitted.

"We are very concerned that many customers are already struggling to pay their bills and do not have the ability to budget for such dramatic price increases," said Mr Terry.

"The Government and the water industry must face up to the problem of water customer debt now."

In August last year, when UU first announced it wanted to increase its prices, the firm said it needed to cover the extra �2.2bn cost of meeting new drinking water and environmental standards.